BlackBerry Confirms BBM for iPhone & Android Not Coming For At Least Another Week

BlackBerry really screwed the pooch when it comes to their launch of BBM on iPhone and Android. This was supposed to be a hallmark week for BlackBerry bringing the BBM addiction to the masses and instead it has been a fiasco. First they paused the rollout and then delayed the launch for Android and then iPhone. Now Andrew Bocking, Head of BBM at BlackBerry, has once again blamed an unreleased older version of BBM for Android that leaked and “resulted in volumes of data traffic orders of magnitude higher than normal.”

It seems like BlackBerry was really not ready for what seems like a predictable event (their Android app leaking). I assumed they would have a system to block the leak the second it came out due to the high probability of it happening. Sadly that does not seem to be the case. BlackBerry is still reeling from the leak that has sadly really screwed up what would have otherwise been a win for them. Damn shame if you ask me especially since they should have been ready for this completely predictable event.

Check out the details below:

Hi Android and iPhone users,

This is Andrew Bocking, head of BBM at BlackBerry. As a follow up to our first blog post on Saturday, I want to take a moment to provide you with an update on the rollout of BBM on Android and iPhone.

Last week, an unreleased, older version of the BBM for Android app was posted on numerous file sharing sites. We were aware of an issue with this unreleased version of the BBM for Android app. This older version resulted in volumes of data traffic orders of magnitude higher than normal for each active user and impacted the system in abnormal ways. The version we were planning to release on Saturday addressed these issues, however we could not block users of the unreleased version if we went ahead with the launch.

We attempted to address the problems caused by the unreleased version throughout the day on Saturday, but as active users of the unreleased app neared a million – and accelerated – it became clear that the only way to address the issue was to pause the rollout for both Android and iPhone.

The team is now focused on adjusting the system to completely block this unreleased version of the Android app when we go live with the official BBM for Android app. We are also making sure that the system is reinforced to handle this kind of scenario in the future. While this may sound like a simple task – it’s not. This will take some time and I do not anticipate launching this week.

Thank you for your patience while we take the time needed to deliver the experience you expect from BBM. We will continue to provide you with updates here on InsideBlackBerry.com and through @BBM on Twitter. We will notify everyone who has pre-registered on BBM.com when BBM is available on Android and iPhone.

I hope that official excuse for the failed cross BBM launch is not the whole truth. It would be a sign of sheer incompetence, especially for a company that has been in the networking business for more than a decade.

But then again, because it is BlackBerry, I have the feeling it is actually the truth…

“BlackBerry really screwed the pooch when it comes to their launch of BBM on iPhone and Android.”

???? How did Blackberry do this? More like 1.1 million twats who couldn’t wait for a release did this. I’m happy they are releasing this once they have everything secure. Why would I want Blackberry if I compromised security and stability?

They have been building up to this launch for months. They should have had all of their bases covered including stability. This was all caused by a build they tested before. They knew it was a very likely possibility that the build would leak out. They did not have a plan for it…

I checked the Twitter login and put in a fix for the new API. Can you tell me if it works now?

This is the biggest “troll” of the tech world ever, so many people were excited and then “hold on, we have a problem” then a day later “sorry, we may need another week or so”.. and they blame this because they leaked it to some million people, and you mean to tell me that they had no control over who was using it, could not simply block all access while they figured out whatever that 1 million were breaking on BB servers?

Sounds like they weren’t even ready and opened a huge backdoor and now they are trying to cover it up. This was BB’s chance to get this boat floating once again, sadly it put another hole on its hull.

The whole thing was a disaster and Im selling my stock and cutting my losses no one else will bid, I doubt Mike L will want to buy his company back like that Dell dude and even then it was a raw deal that got shafted away from Icahn…

So theres no winning… I met Thorsten Heins and now I wish I kicked him in the balls. I got everyone into it, this was the plan from the start and even the two co-CEO’s knew it. Not conspiracy theory just smarter about stocks and how volatile they are…